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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 9, 1984)
Oregon daily emerald Wednesday, May 9, 1984 Eugene, Oregon Volume 85, Number 151 rnoio oy ivirn mroia Mayoral candidates debated humorously at a televised dabate Tuesday night. Mayor hopefuls field questions By Michele Matassa Of the Emerald The race for mayor of Eugene continued to evoke debate Tuesday night on issues of revenue, economic development and the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, as the five mayoral candidates gathered together for a moderated forum sponsored by Cable Televi sion Channel 14. During the one-hour discussion, the can didates calmly fielded questions from a media panel and from an audience of about 50 peo ple, leaning more often toward humorous answers than heated debate. The issue of financing the Hult Center emerged immediately and remained a topic throughout the forum. Candidate Michael Cravino stated his strong support for the Hult Center but argued that the City Council should have consulted more closely with the public when it decided to take on the center's debt as part of the city budget. "I'm all for funding the Hult entirely through city revenue funds," Gravino said. "What the council has lacked to do. . . is that when it comes to writing off big debts — the public's money — they don't come back to the public and ask 'How can you help us with this?' " To cut costs at the Hult Center, George Stathakis suggested opening its management positions up to competitive bidding. In fact, all public jobs excluding basic services such as police and fire protection should be bid on, Stathakis said. "The reason why we don't have money is we've been spending it on frills," Stathakis said. "We've been spending it on things that are not basic stuff." Because the Hult Center's $600,000 annual deficit will now be partly financed through the city budget, discussion moved from the center's problems to raising city revenue. Most of the candidates said they opposed any new taxes to generate revenue, and Cravino and Dave Sweet even proposed methods of their own. Sweet suggested hooking up to a cable system originating at Eugene and extending across the world to showcase Eugene's appeal and draw people to the city. ''What we need is to reach out from Eugene to the world and show them what we have here," Sweet said. "What the council talks about is destination point. What we need to do is establish Eugene as an origin point." Cravino said he would implement a one-cent fee on all recyclables — bottles and cans that are now not returnable — and use that money to supplement the general fund. Jerry "Wheatgerm" Campbell also denounc ed new taxes, saying people are already heavily taxed. "I think that the thing is, there's not a whole lot of money around and things area hurtin' for certain," Campbell said. "What we should do is tighten the old belt and see who needs some and what and who can give a little bit." The only candidate who didn't rule out new taxes as a revenue option was Brian Obie, who currently serves as president of the City Council. Obie blamed the Oregon's state tax system for Eugene's tight financial situation. "The state taxing system is a much greater because it is forcing industry and jobs out of this community," Obie said. "We are not going to move ahead by letting the walls crumble at the University of Oregon or by creating bar riers for people to come here." Soviets announce nonparticipation in summer Olympics MOSCOW (AP) — The Soviet Union announced Tuesday it will not participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, charging that the United States doesn't intend to ensure athletes' security and ac cusing the Americans of "undermining" Olympic ideals. The Soviets did not mention the U.S. boycott of the Moscow games four years ago, but Peter Ueberroth, president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, told a news con ference in Washington that the United States was "paying the price for 1980." fhe Soviet National Olympic Committee's announcement was distributed through the of ficial news agency Tass. It cap ped a long campaign of Soviet criticism of the Olympics preparations, ranging from complaints about commer cialism to reports of the Los Angeles crime and smog. "Extremist organizations and groupings of all sorts, openly aiming to create 'unbearable conditions' for the stay of the Soviet delegation and perfor mance by Soviet athletes, have sharply stepped up their activity with direct connivance of the American authorities," the Soviet statement said. A group calling itself the Ban the Soviets Coalition had said it would en courage Soviet athletes to defect during the Games. The Soviet statement also said U.S. authorities took a "cavalier attitude" toward observing the Olympic charter, and "in these conditions. . . participation of Soviet sportsmen in the games of the 23rd Olympiad in Los Angeles is impossible." The Soviet announcement was made nearly a month in ad vance of the June 2 deadline for giving formal notification of par ticipation in the Olympics, and came as the cross-country relay of the Olympic torch began in New York City. It also came at a time of tense relations between Washington and Moscow. The Soviet Union has walked out of arms control talks and has not said when it will return. The Soviets "have disregarded the feelings of most nations and millions of people the world over that the Olympics be con ducted in a nonpolitical at mosphere," said Pres. Ronald Reagan's chief spokesman, Larry Speakes. He said the United States had "gone the last mile" to accommodate the Soviets. "We have made exhaustive ef forts to meet Soviet concerns about arrangements in Los Angeles and we have met those concerns," Speakes said. Communist Romania isn't planning to follow the Soviet lead and "will certainly take part" in the Games, a Romanian diplomat who asked not to be identified said in Vienna. It was not immediately known whether other Warsaw Pact countries would join the Soviet Union in staying away from the Games. Sports committees and state-controlled media in East European countries have been repeating Soviet allegations that the United States was violating the Olympics charter, but Tues day they reported the Soviet withdrawal without comment. "It would now appear that, once again, athletes will be the victims of politics and a world situation beyond their control should the Soviet Union elect not to take part in the Olympic Games," the U.S. Olympic Com mittee's executive director, F. Don Miller said in Colorado Spr ings, Colo. "The Games are in real jeopar dy now," said Al Oerter, four time Olympic gold medalist in the discus. He said the pullout "reduces the incentive to work hard for the Games and diminishes accomplishments in them." But he declared: "If they want to pull out, then the hell with them!" ABC, which has the rights to televise the Summer Games, hopes the Soviets "will still par ticipate and they have until June 2 to change their minds," said Irv Brodsky, an ABC spokesman. University receives grants in high-tech areas The University received $612,000 in federal grants Monday for lasers and other sophisticated optical equipment that will support research in projects rang ing from biochemistry to molecular physics. "These grants will fund research in one of the fastest growing areas in the high-tech field," says Richard Hersh, vice president for research. "With many high-tech firms wanting to relocate in less densely populated areas, like Oregon's southern Willamette Valley, such federal money can only help bolster our area's attractiveness while it strengthens the Univer sity's research and teaching in areas related to the op tical sciences." The National Science Foundation and the Depart ment of Defense University Research Instrumentation Program awarded a grant totaling $300,000. Other grants included $212,000 from the National Institutes of Health and $100,000 from the DOD University Research Instrumentation Program. All of the equipment will become part of a new Shared Lasers Facility in the basement of Science II, scheduled to become operational this summer. The 2,000-square-foot facility will also be equipped with a new ultraviolet laser for biomedical research and other laser systems for studies of combustion com ponents, atmospheric and interstellar ionic reactions and the basic nature of chemical bonding. The University currently has the largest concentra tion of research and education in areas related to op tical sciences in the Northwest, Hetlb says. It covers the sciences from fundamental atomic physics through molecular biology and is supported by more than $3 million in grants and contracts. “This expertise in lasers and modern optics already plays an important role in support of the research and development needs of the existing printing, microelec tronics, lumber and medical industries in Oregon that rely on optical techniques,” he says. "And it could help the state to take a significant part in the projected growth of the laser and optical industry." The DOD grant will enable the University to pur chase a laser system for research on the optical control diffuse discharges. The system will be ordered for use beginning this fall.